It's that time again! The Anime Contract Challenge is an event that runs once a month, giving people a chance to share their love for their favourite series' with others and discover cool new shows to watch.

The way this works is simple. You just comment in this thread to let me know you're participating. then after about a week you get RNG'd a partner. You and your partner exchange shows for each other to watch, then at the end of the month post a short review here letting us know what you think of it.

Don't worry though, this is a pretty casual thing. There's no pressure to make it all the way through your contracted series (or to like it). Just get through as far as you can. As a helpful tip, check out each other's MyAnimeList (or similar) to help make good choices for one another. Have fun!

I have to say that I really liked this series. It's premise isn't entirely unique but the way it is presented does feel somewhat different and the mechanics of the word of Noragami are definitely interesting - although again not totally unique. The plot itself is in a similar boat, the story we follow is fun and engaging but isn't amazingly strong, although by no means is it bad, but that doesn't matter as much as you'd think because the series' strengths lie elsewhere. The strength of Noragami's story is in its execution. The pacing of the show is impeccable and it contains a perfect mix of small snippets of intense action interspersed through larger components of emotional drama, with a little comedy sprinkled in for levity.

Where Noragami really excels though is in its characters. It's the story of their development and thus the plot events themselves take a back seat to the character focus. The main characters are all multi-faceted and believable despite the fantasy setting and don't fall entirely into old tropes. Hiyori can be the damsel in distress at times, but she's also independent, loyal and jovial. Yukine is bratty and hot headed but struggles with existential angst. Even Yato, who is at first presented as a goofy loser, has a far more serious side that often seeps through. There are a few secondary characters who could do with some further development and some history to some of the character relationships that needs to be further explored, but I'm holding out hope this will all be revealed in the sequel.

Also worth mentioning is that the animation is fluid and aesthetically pleasing and the soundtrack is exceptional. The music would be enjoyable on its own but more importantly does a fantastic job of adding to the atmosphere of the show.

I would definitely recommend Noragami to others and will watch the sequel soon. I'd say it's an 8/10

Going to provide an update on mine too. Currently halfway into Tsuki ga Kirei as gimme recommended and will be finishing most likely by tomorrow evening. So far, I really really like it. The art is stunning and I feel it actually paints an accurate picture of middle schoolers and their experience with love/romance. Not sure if it's something only I noticed but the voice acting seems to be more focused on sounding as realistic as possible for the characters; less focus on lengthening their speech to show off the voice actors' capabilities and more on the awkward and unsure mumbles that come with new experiences for these young characters going through puberty and experiencing romantic love for what is probably the first time. Episode 5 ended on a real interesting part that honestly kinda worries me, since I want the main pair to work out....but we'll see where that goes.

edit: I finished watching... ♥ Am really happy with the ending, to be honest I was getting paranoid that something bad would happen. But the ending was adorable and I love the two of them a lot ♥♥♥♥♥♥

Not ready to throw words yet but I'm almost halfway through the first Higurashi.

I will say that, in the interest in continuing with my partner, I'll probably stop at the halfway point and give my thoughts there (the former will probably happen later today) so I can resume at some point in the future.

im roughly a quarter of the way through my show and am having some serious feelings of deja vu about it. I feel as if i've seen it before but its been so long ago that I can't properly recall what happens. ive got the next two days off so im planning to get at least the the three quarters mark and then write up a short review of it.

A few notes about how I watched it, and I didn't disclose this about One Outs or Minami-ke either but I feel the...desire to do so now. I watched all of these shows at higher speeds than was originally intended, 1.12 in One Out's case, 1.25ish for Minami-ke, and 1.5 in Higurashi's. Before I'd done the contract challenge I never would have done something like this as, to me, being able to enjoy an anime is largely a result of the atmosphere and setting. I couldn't immerse myself in an anime if I was watching on my phone in a train, nor would I really be interested in watching a pivotal episode of a show in a brightly lit room with a bunch of people around chatting and like...hell, I can get annoyed at the small red/green light that emits from the TV that tells me whether the display is on or not if the room's dark enough.

The same extends to anime, and watching anime either out of obligation or at some higher speed, I always assumed, would kill the experience for me. It could've been because the first anime I got was One Outs, but holy hell was I wrong. It was pretty much a setup for disaster, being a sports anime that I had little interest in watching which I was watching out of obligation. I got the crazy idea in my head that if I sped it up a little, I'd feel motivated to watch it, especially since the episode count was also pretty daunting to me and more than anything, the beginning would be the hardest part to penetrate. But both because x1.12 is so modest and because of the general pacing of the show, I was not only able to get into it easier, but I also had a blast with it, absolutely loved that show.

There was no particular reason for the increase in speed being bigger between series since I really just picked what I felt was comfortable with the series in question, and in the case of Higurashi that was x1.5 (though as a result I watched the dub with wasn't the original intention since it's pretty subpar but fitting for the standards at the time, given it wasn't Funimation or anyone like that). Though I will say, in the case of this particular anime, since some things are meant to happen suddenly to surprise the characters in context, because of the speed at which they'd happen they would tend to surprise me too. Talk about unintentional jump scares.

So, to what I thought about the show itself: I liked it. Granted, I did find it immediately ironic that DDLC's intro was specifically, almost to a T, parodying the intro to Higurashi(...'s VN, I would assume) considering the games in question, but digressions digressions. I'd known about the show for quite some time and avoided it pretty intentionally outside of listening to Naraku no Hana and Kai's ending, so the edge didn't really surprise me but it also didn't really take away from the experience all that much either. Throw an anime my way: Death Parade, Another, Mirai Nikki, Deadman Wonderland and pretty much all of their heavyhanded melodrama (of blood and angst, though DP's a different case of edge and wises up as it goes forward) will be a fair bit of a turn-off. In the case of Higurashi, though, I didn't mind it...and probably only because I was prepared for it.

I'd imagine if I watched this show back when I first heard about it I would have maybe gotten to the end of the first chapter and written the show off pretty hard, but now I just kind of chew that muk like popcorn and let it be what it is. In general, I'm not really into killing, death, and gore for the sake of rousing the audience, it just isn't my thing. Higurashi is only ever as gruesome as it is for that reason, but the deaths themselves are wholly narrative driven and, so far, have only helped to develop said narrative, and that's when I like the usage of death most so in that regard it gets a thumbs up from me. Double points because there was one particular scene where the death of two characters is speculated and later confirmed, but at no point do they feel the need to expound upon, dramatize, or in any way show their deaths or the bodies. There was no reason to, and that's an immediate check in my book.

As for the actual story itself, my favorite game and visual novel is Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, so that should kind of give an impression as far as how I feel about this kind of story (which isn't exactly the same but there are some strong similarities). Aaaaand that's all I'm gonna say about that. It's doing a good job at not revealing what's going on and dropping hints without really calling a lot of attention to said hints, and I like that, that's a pretty exciting concept to me. That said, I'll keep my thoughts on that mostly to myself until I finish it.

As for the animation and art...oh boy. Ohohoh boy. Look, I understand that back when it was first released, the VN looked like this:

Spoiler:

I get that. Really. Here's my problem though

Spoiler:

See my problem? It's more concern than anything. Concern that one of these days Nickelodeon's just going to realize they're low on money and sue the pants off of Studio Deen for copying their design for Jimmy Neutron without crediting them.

...Actually now that I say it out loud it being Studio Deen does explain a fair bit. Also, folks, please, if you ever feel like your overweight, actually confirm this before dieting. This:

Spoiler:

Isn't healthy. And really, a lot of the characters' proportions in this show are distressing. Especially since, oddly enough, in the VN the characters are moderately sized compared to the sticks that are their anime designs. This isn't a problem, really, but it can be pretty hilarious, especially on particularly low-detail scenes. The overall fidelity of the show is fantastic, though, and whoever released it at this resolution did a bang-up job in that regard.

Also the characters are pretty generic but I feel as if the story carries them to the point that I don't mind it all that much and can invest in them well enough, which is rare.

But yeah, rambling is as it is, but enjoying it and I'm looking forward to continuing it later.

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